Text: T0597; 龍王兄弟經

Summary

Identifier T0597 [T]
Title 龍王兄弟經 [T]
Date 西晋 [Hayashiya 1941]
Translator 譯 Zhi Qian 支謙 [T]

There may be translations for this text listed in the Bibliography of Translations from the Chinese Buddhist Canon into Western Languages. If translations are listed, this link will take you directly to them. However, if no translations are listed, the link will lead only to the head of the page.

There are resources for the study of this text in the SAT Daizōkyō Text Dabatase (Saṃgaṇikīkṛtaṃ Taiśotripiṭakaṃ).

Assertions

Preferred? Source Pertains to Argument Details

No

[T]  T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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  • Title: 龍王兄弟經
  • People: Zhi Qian 支謙 (translator 譯)
  • Identifier: T0597

No

[Nattier 2008]  Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica X. Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2008.

Nattier does not regard the traditional ascription to Zhi Qian as reliable.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Hayashiya 1941]  Hayashiya Tomojirō 林屋友次郎. Kyōroku kenkyū 経録研究. Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1941. — 1068-1071

Hayashiya's summary of the content of the catalogues on this and related titles is as follows:

The recompiled catalogue of variant translations from the Liang country 新集安公涼土異經録 (Sengyou's reconstitution of a portion of Dao'an's catalogue):
A Nan longwang jing 難龍王經 is listed in this catalogue was extant at the time of Sengyou. There is also a Mulian xiang longwang jing 目連降龍王經 in Sengyou’s catalogue of assorted anonymous scriptures 失譯雜經錄. This text was also extant in Sengyou’s time, so the Nan longwang jing 難龍王經 and the Mulian xiang wang jing 目連降龍王經 might appear to be different texts. However, Hayashiya argues that they might well be the same text, and it was Sengyou’s mistake to list them separately. This is because both titles, as well as some other alternate titles, suit well the content of the surviving Nan longwang jing, viz., Longwang xiongdi jing 龍王兄弟經 T597.

Fajing’s Zhongjing mulu and Yancong’s Zhongjing mulu:
Fajing’s Zhongjing mulu shows only one text with those titles, by listing Longwang xiongdi jing 龍王兄弟經 as an anonymous Hīnayāna text with Xiang longwang jing 降龍王經 and Nan longwang jing 難龍王經 as alternate titles. Yancong follows Fajing in this regard. Thus, Nan longwang jing 難龍王經 and Mulian xiang longwang jing 目連降龍王經 were widely considered as the same text in the Sui 隋 period, consistent with Hayashiya’s observation above.

LDSBJ 三寶記 and KYL 開元錄:
LDSBJ listed the Nan longwang jing and the Mulian xiang longwang jing 目連降龍王經 separately, showing the translators as Zhi Qian and Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅 respectively. KYL follows LDSBJ in ths regard, adding that the Nan longwang jing, viz., the Longwang xiongdi jing, as extant, and the Mulian xiang longwang jing as lost.

Hayashiya points out that the descriptions in LDSBJ and KYL are groundless, and that the vocabulary and tone of the Nan longwang jing = Longwang xiongdi jing T597 are clearly not that of Zhi Qian, although they are of the W. Jin 西晋 period or earlier. They are not of the Song 宋 period either, and hence the translator cannot be Guṇabhadra. Hayashiya concludes that, although many different names have been given to it, there was only ever one Nan longwang jing, viz., the one listed in the recompiled catalogue of variant translations from the Liang country 新集安公涼土異經録. The Mulian xiang longwang jing in Sengyou’s catalogue of assorted anonymous scriptures should be excised as a redundant entry. The text is an anonymous scripture of the W. Jin 西晋 period, well-known in the the Liangzhou 涼州 area. All the other attributions given by later catalogues are groundless.

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[Zürcher 1959/2007]  Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. Third Edition. Leiden: Brill, 1959 (2007 reprint). — 50, 336 n. 137

According to Zürcher, Sengyou attributed thirty-six texts to Zhi Qian 支謙, of which twenty-three have survived. This entry lists texts which are ascribed to Zhi Qian in the present Taishō, yet do not appear among Sengyou’s attributions.

Entry author: Sophie Florence

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